Online marketplaces are able to offer a variety of items (including goods, services, products, information or media of any type or form) to customers through one or more online portals, such web sites or other electronic interfaces, that may be accessible through the Internet. Such portals may provide customers with seemingly limitless amounts and types of information regarding the items that may be offered for sale, and customers may review such information when contemplating making one or more purchases. The prices at which such items are offered for sale at online marketplaces may generally be determined as a function of the available inventory of the items and the demand therefor.
Many items that are made available for purchase at an online marketplace are time bound, or time-sensitive in nature, such that the items have a date or time at which the values of the items will drop precipitously, or at which the items will otherwise expire or be rendered valueless. For example, where an online marketplace offers fresh groceries, non-refundable tickets to a one-time event, or a model of a home electronics component that is updated regularly for sale to customers, each of these items will experience a natural reduction in its intrinsic value due to natural circumstances (e.g., the spoiling of groceries or the completion of the one-time event) or market forces (e.g., the replacement of the model of the home electronics component with a newer model).
For some companies, particularly those associated with the sale of high-end, luxury retail items, the trademarks or brands that are affixed to or associated with such items may be their single largest source of intangible value. Thus, the owners of such trademarks or brands generally take great care to protect the value of their intellectual property, and to avoid actions that may otherwise reduce or hinder the strength of such trademarks or brands in the eyes of the market. For example, a manufacturer of a high quality line of audio equipment may elect to maintain the prices of such equipment at elevated levels, even when faced with accumulating levels of unsold inventory, rather than reduce the prices to reflect the market's demands for such items, as a price reduction may potentially imply that the equipment is worth less than the standard prices for which it is ordinarily offered. Likewise, a vendor of high-end perfumes may choose to destroy unsold amounts of a specific perfume, rather than offer and sell the perfume at reduced prices, which may be deemed an implicit admission that the perfume is overpriced, or of a cheap or inexpensive nature. In such situations, the direct loss of present revenue resulting from unsold items may be preferable to an indirect loss of future revenue incurred on account of damage to a brand associated with the items.